I’m not saying that the decision was made by YSNet nor that it wasn’t made behind their back. From what I can imagine, the decision probably really pissed them off, but they still got money from the deal.
I must be coming down with a case of amnesia, because I don’t remember the articles from all of these super reliable journalists you speak of. I remember all of the ‘YSNet sells out backers’ stories just fine, but the huge story of a publisher scamming a small indie developer out of millions of dollars didn’t seem to make any headlines. Strange...
Shenmue 3 made more than Yooka Laylee and Mighty No 9 combined.
Spiritual successor or not, if you were to give the average gamer today a choice between the spiritual successor to a hugely successful series that had sold tens of millions of copies, the spiritual successor to a game so influential that it literally has a genre named after it, the spiritual successor to what some may argue is the best platform game ever made or the sequel to a game that they most likely never played and is best known for being a huge commercial failure, which do you think they’d choose?
On paper, the S3 Kickstarter had no right to perform as well as it did and would probably be bottom of the above list in the eyes of most of today’s gamers. That it was the best performing of all four of the Kickstarters shows just how important the Sony stage was to Shenmue 3.
I’ve no doubt the game would still have been funded had the news of the Kickstarter been announced quietly on a few gaming websites, but would it have done anywhere near as well as it did?
If only $3m-$5m had been generated through the Kickstarter, do you still think DS would have been so keen to jump on board? Personally, I don’t. They heard ‘record-breaking’ and saw dollar signs if you ask me.
Also, how do you know that Sony didn’t waive or lower the platform royalty fee (usually around $7 per copy) as part of the deal? If that was the case, and looking at the 80:20 split of S1/2 sales in Europe and NA and the 100:00 split of sales of it in Japan, YSNet may have saved themselves more in royalty fees than they would have made through Xbone sales.
You (and some others on here) speak as though Yu and his team are a bunch of bumbling idiots with no business acumen whatsoever and I think you’re doing him and them a huge disservice. The fact is, none of us are privy to any of the details of the deals made surrounding S3. Ultimately though, Yu got to make the game he wanted to make. Maybe once you’ve launched the most successful video game Kickstarter in history and put out a game that tens of thousands of hardcore fans are happy with, you might be in a position to criticize him. Until then, maybe don’t?
Me and many others just look at the facts.
Sony's marketing ? Where is it ? Where was it ?
Platforms fees waived ? DS is the publisher. That wouldn't go like this. That's also baseless speculation from you.
And yes, me and many others just also look at history. Historically, the Shenmue series has been plagued by dumb deals that never benefited the serie, just for pocket change at the time.
And yes, I think those were dumb deals. Most publishers and devs, when striking exclusivity deals usually manages to get a big financial AND marketing support. In that case though ? Pocket change.
Yu got to make the game he wanted ? I rather think the opposite, otherwise we should question his talent. I rather think he didn't want to make a game with cutscenes inferior to what you would get 20 years ago. I rather think he didn't want to make a game with such a repetitive gameplay structure. I rather think he didn't want to make a combat system as shallow. I also rather think he didn't want to scrap an entire area and gameplay systems that were promised in the kickstarter, as stretch goals.
I actually think it's your line of thinking that's actually wrong. Passing up on everything. Being an apologist on everything. People can make mistakes, it happens.
Was the KS ran in a bad way ? Yes.
Were the exclusive deals strike rather unfair toward the game considering it didn't even benefit the game ? Yes, because it led to get pocket change, pocketed by other parties.
And no, you don't need to do better to criticize something. That's actually a stupid line of thinking.
Can you build a house ? Maybe not. Does it mean you cant criticize if someone does a bad job at that ?
Heck, can you make a game ? I think not. Does it mean you cant say a game is bad ?
Definitely not.
I cant make a game nor run a KS campaign. But even I can tell what has gone wrong here.
